


Old Haunts

by rivlee



Series: Gone Are All The Days [6]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Families of Choice, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2018-01-07 06:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1116536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivlee/pseuds/rivlee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Word got around the Bill Guarnere frat brother phone tree that Babe's met someone and it's the main topic of bar and dinner conversations. Also, Ron Speirs makes an offer Babe can only sort of refuse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Follow _Down in New Orleans_. Parts of this were posted on my lj/dw when I felt bad about the amount of unfinished fic documents I have in this series. Finally working on fixing that.

“So, rumor has it you met a guy,” George Luz’s voice rang out in the empty Front Street Tavern. 

Babe smashed his head on the door of the walk-in cooler in response. He stood up and glared at George Luz, alumni of St. Michael the Archangel University and member of the Delta Epsilon Chi fraternity, currently in town for a Guarnere-sponsored reunion. Babe never hated Bill’s frat buddies more than on reunion week. 

“You know, it’s customary to make your presence known when you enter a business, especially when we’re closed,” he said.

Luz shrugged. “It’s not my fault you aren’t aware enough of your surroundings, Heffron,” he said. 

Babe shook his head and stepped out from behind the bar. “How the hell you doing, Luz?” he asked as he pulled him into a quick hug. 

“Never better,” Luz said, swatting Babe on the ass before letting him go. “You got Bill all a-flutter with planning your big gay wedding.”

“He gets that from his Ma,” Babe joked. “Trust me, when he finally cons Fran into getting married, he’ll be the bridezilla.”

“He does look good in white,” he agreed with a grin. It was a typical Luz smile, they kind you couldn’t help but respond to in kind.

“How’s work?” Babe asked.

“Can’t complain. Nixon’s got us chasing leads on some new explosive for the military. He keeps sending us to resorts though, so I don’t know what that’s about. Who am I to say anything against the boss? He signs my paychecks and I go where he asks.”

Babe honestly couldn’t fathom such a job perk. To him, a business trip meant a ride to the supercenter box store to get fifty bags of ice. “At least you don't have to prepare for the masses on Saint Patrick’s Day.”

“In that, I do not envy you, my beer dealing friend.” Luz picked up one of the cardboard coasters and twirled it between his fingers. “So, this guy.”

“Jesus, Luz, leave it alone,” Babe said. He threw a dish rag over his shoulder and got back behind the bar, trying to ignore any pointed looks. The boys were worse than Babe’s own family when it came to his relationships; overprotective didn’t even start to cover it. 

“Can’t do that,” Luz said to Babe’s back. “Your last relationship was close to being a matter of national security. None of us want a repeat of that one.”

Babe tried not to think about that asshole most days, but it made his skin crawl to have Gene compared to him. He turned around to stare down Luz. “He’s not an assassin or a spy. He’s a doctor.”

Luz nodded. “You’d make a good doctor’s wife. I can see you shilling the bake goods at all the functions.”

“Fuck you.”

Luz studied him from under his dark eyelashes. “Sorry, Babe, you’re not my type. I know it’ll be hard to move on, but I’m sure you can find someone else.”

Babe leaned over the bar. “Remind me again why I don’t tell Ron about your weekend with Lipton?”

Luz didn’t even have the good grace to look nervous. “Because you are a good and loyal friend who knows that what I have with Lipton is only pure and innocent.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I swear on my mother’s grave,” Luz said with a hand over his heart.

“Your living mother’s grave?” Babe asked. 

“Eh, she already has the plot reserved.”

“Luz,” Babe warned, threatening him with the soda gun. 

Luz leaned forward on his elbows and got into Babe’s space. “You know I’m not going to let up until you at least give me the guy’s name, so just tell me.”

“Fine,” Babe said. He popped a Coke down in front of Luz. “Roe. Gene Roe. And do not do a background search, for the love of God. I’m freaked out enough over Bill knowing him from Afghanistan.”

Luz deliberately put down his drink and quirked an eyebrow at him. “He was in Afghanistan?”

“Yeah, Bill said something about a mercy mission or some shit. I don’t know. I haven’t asked Gene about it yet. Not something you bring up in casual conversation, you know? ‘So, tell me what you’re wearing and what you did that one time you worked in a war zone.’ It just doesn’t sit right.”

Luz nodded and leaned over the bar again, rooting around for some pretzels. Babe smacked his hand before opening one of the packs and pouring it into a bowl. Luz didn’t deserve ‘em, but Babe didn’t want to hear him bitch about an empty stomach.

“So,” Luz said with his handful of pretzel sticks, “if Bill knows him, then Ron must know him too.”

Babe paused in his wiping down of the taps. “I did not need to think about that.”

“I’m just saying. National security,” he said, using a pretzel stick to emphasize his point.

“Luz—stop.”

Luz smirked at Babe for a full five minutes until he finally turned to watch _ESPN_ on one of the tvs. Babe went back to re-stocking the bar, just waiting for Luz’s next verbal attack.

He was a sneaky bastard like that. 

Babe was pulling down the chairs when Luz struck.

“Who’s a guy got to blow around here to get a burger?”

The chairs fumbled and fell the floor, accompanied by Luz’s cackle.

“Does Nixon know he’s hired a complete sociopath?” Babe asked. He checked the chairs for any breaks, and found them all in good condition. Babe really couldn’t afford to replace anything just because his friend’s friends were a bunch of assholes.

“I’m the least of his problems,” Luz said. He twirled back and forth on his seat, watching Babe work. “You got off for Ma Guarnere’s dinner?”

“Jimmy’s going to work for me,” he grunted as he moved a table away from the wall. “A little help?” he asked.

“I don’t work here,” Luz said. “Hell, Babe, I’m on vacation.”

“Luz,” Babe warned, already feeling the sweat soaking the back of his shirt. He really hated doing the set-up alone.

“Fine,” Luz said and hopped off his stool. “Don’t need you breaking your neck anyway. Bill would kill me where I stood.”

“Best you remember that,” Babe muttered. 

Babe loved Luz, he really did, and he was nothing but good people. He was just a mischievous asshole who could take a joke too far, but he had a heart the size of Alaska, so you couldn’t stay mad at him for long. Everyone loved George Luz. And if they didn’t, they were seriously fucked up. 

“Thanks, George,” he said once they were done. He took a whiff of his shirt and gagged. “Watch the door for me, will ya? I’m going to go change.”

“Should I let anyone in?” Luz asked.

“Only if they’re from the food company or Budweiser.”

They didn’t have a locker room in the back of the bar, just a closet next to the kitchen where they could pile their shit. Babe always kept a few extra shirts there, just in case he got covered in beer, kitchen grease, puke, piss, shit, or all five. He smoothed the black cotton t-shirt down and tucked it into his pants before tying his apron back on. He patted the pockets to find his phone. 

“That sticky-fingered bastard,” he muttered, finding it gone.

“Luz,” Babe yelled as he stormed back onto the main floor. 

Luz was leaning against the bar smiling with Babe’s phone pressed to his ear.

“Oh, here he is,” Luz said. “Full of Irish temper, that one. You sure you want to handle that?” Luz paused, listening to some story that made him laugh. “Best of luck, my friend,” he said and finally handed the phone over to Babe.

“I will kill you,” Babe whispered as he grabbed the phone. “Gene?” he asked. He flipped off Luz and headed toward the back again.

“You sound stressed,” Gene said. The smile was clear in his voice even if there was an undertone of exhaustion.

“I’m Luzed, is what I am,” Babe muttered. 

“Sounds contagious,” Gene teased.

“Like gonorrhea,” Babe answered. 

Gene laughed soft and slow; it sent a pleasant chill down Babe’s spine. 

“Luz didn’t bother you, did he?” Babe asked.

“No,” Gene said. “I’m on my lunch break. Renée threatened mutiny if I didn’t leave. I’m enjoying a Shelton Special.”

“Do I want to know what that is?” Babe had heard enough stories of Gene’s friend, Merl-Francis Shelton, to know he never wanted to meet him. 

“Just some Hamburger Helper with a Cajun twist. The sodium levels are horrible, but it’s still better than McDonald’s.”

“And to think, I always saw you as a soup and salad kind of guy,” Babe said. He leaned against the door jamb before turning to face the stock room and away from Luz’s knowing look.

“Some doctors smoke, I eat horrible food.”

“We all have our vices.”

Gene snorted. “Clearly no one from Nixon Development has told you about Winters yet.”

Babe straightened up in surprise. “You know about Nixon Development?”

“A few old friends work for them.”

“Ah,” Babe said. “All the Marine buddies.”

“A few,” Gene said.

“You’re going to have to tell me that story some time.”

“You’ll need graphic visuals to understand. Maybe even charts. It might require a face-to-face meeting.”

Babe could feel his pulse jump and licked his lips as he thought of seeing Gene again. “I think I can try and pencil that in.” Movement in the reflection of the security mirror caught his eye. “Aw, damn it,” he cursed. 

“What?” Gene asked.

“I got to go before Luz breaks the bar.”

“That wouldn’t look too good on the resume.”

“Yeah, you’d find my body parts scattered on a river bank,” Babe said. “I’ll call you tonight,” he promised.

“You do that, Edward. Take care of yourself.”

“Yeah, you too, Gene.”


	2. Two

Babe never went to a fancy private Catholic college, so he didn’t know _why_ he was always the one hosting the first of the reunion guests. It probably had something to do with the fact Babe was _always_ in Philly. He had an apartment, worked nights, and unlike Bill and Toye, didn’t require anyone to sign a confidentiality agreement to sleep on his couch. 

Not that anyone wanted to sleep on his couch considering a knife to the spleen would be more comfortable and less fatal, but since it was either that or bunk beds at the Guarneres, needs must and all that bullshit. Babe knew for a fact Luz had slept on, with, and near much worse. 

The walk from the bar to his apartment took about twenty minutes longer than it should’ve since everyone and their grandmother stopped to talk to them. Spina, Babe and Julian were all honorary members of the frat’s reunion, but it’s not like any of them ever left their city until this past year, so they were never celebrated unlike all of Bill’s adopted boys. For four years the boys of Delta Epsilon Chi had grown up under the care and protection of their families and neighborhood here in Pennsport. They’d formed connections, bonds, and in the case of Skip and Penk, found their own places in the community. It was an _event_ when the St. Mike boys came home all at once.

Luz was always the first to come back without fail and he always came early for extra days off and too much homemade food. He’d deny it to his grave, but Babe knew it was just so Luz could get extra spoiled. All their parents adored Luz and treated him like one of their own sons. He gladly reaped the benefits of being the first of the Lost Boys back in the adopted nest. Babe did love the pain-in-the-ass like one of his own, and if pressed, he _would_ admit to missing that special Luz-brand humor when he was gone. 

It still didn’t mean he was overly happy to play welcome wagon, no matter how much he loved all these assholes. 

Babe scrolled though the texts on his phone as Luz stood on Mrs. Cavanaugh’s stoop and ate some just-out-of-the-oven cookies. Bill and Joe Toye were already on their way home, but Malarkey, Perco, and Speirs were still god-knew-where-but-probably-classified. They’d all be here before the end of the week though; no one was stupid enough to risk the wrath of Ma Guarnere. 

“You good?” Babe asked as Luz finally joined him again, a tin can of baked goods tucked under one arm.

Luz gestured with a bow. “After you, dear sir.”

“Yeah, yeah, fuck you too,” Babe said as they finally got to his apartment. 

“You live in a shithole,” Luz said one they were inside. He kicked Babe’s couch. “That might be insulting to shitholes, actually.”

“Hey, watch it,” Babe said. He pointed to the couch. “That thing is held together by duct tape and prayer.”

Luz looked around the apartment in obvious disgust. “Babe, there are homeless roaches in the park whose cardboard and newspaper furniture is more stable than your own.”

“Then you can go have lunch with them,” Babe said. 

“I guess I’ll live,” Luz said. 

Babe smirked and went to his kitchen. His stove top only worked on the best of days and his oven had died a month ago, but he had a George Foreman grill that made culinary miracles. 

“How are the illustrious Professors Muck and Penkala doing?” Luz asked as he poked through Babe’s fridge.

“They’re enjoying life at St. Joe’s,” Babe said. 

“Got an ETA on Wild Bill?” Luz asked.

“They’re about an hour out. Half an hour if Toye’s driving,” Babe said.

Joe Toye had a slight problem with speeding and reckless driving. He should have lost his license years ago, but even the toughest state troopers were scared shitless by a pissed off Joseph Toye. 

“The plan is still to meet up at the Tavern, right?”

“Yup,” Babe said, as he pushed Luz aside and pulled out all the works to make sliders. “You fuckers will be drinking on Speirs’ tab while I’ll be working my ass off.”

“Everything’s right in the world then,” Luz said.

“You’re such a fucking jackass,” he said, punching Luz in the arm.

Luz scoffed and pried open his tin. He stuffed a cookie and his mouth and mumbled, “I’m the light of your life, Heffron, don’t even try to front.”

He shoved another cookie in Babe’s mouth before he propped himself up on the kitchen counter and watched Babe work.

“So, you going to tell me more about this Roe?” Luz asked. “Nice voice on that guy, all smooth and shit. Hear that in your dreams, right?”

Babe refused to answer and perhaps formed the ground beef into patties with more force than was strictly necessary. 

“Okay, don’t talk,” Luz said. “You know I can do enough for both of us. Besides, your ears are all red. _Just a friend_ my ass.”

Babe took a deep breath and reminded himself that blood stains probably violated his renter’s agreement. He pointed to the couch. “Go. Sit. Or I will pawn you off on the Guarneres and their bunk beds.”

“Not much of a threat,” Luz said as he jumped off the counter. “I’ll just go rummage through your mail, ‘kay?”

“Fine,” Babe said. He took what he could to get some peace and quiet while he cooked. Last thing he needed was his own mother yelling at him for throwing ground beef at Luz’s head. 

He heard Luz shuffle around his small apartment. There wasn’t much to see in the living room. Babe’s laptop, his tv that only got the basic of packages since he’d picked internet access over cable, and a dvd player that had to be asked nicely to work. There were a handful of books for his few college courses and family photo albums his mother had shoved on to his creaky, lopsided bookshelf. 

His bedroom was pretty much a closet that fit a bed, a nightstand, and a chest of drawers. His bathroom was for the strong-willed and determined, with the water between _semi-cold_ and _holy shit it’s the Arctic_.

“Still don’t do much entertaining then?” Luz asked after he walked the whole apartment. “I mean, beside the fact that you’re taken and all.”

“Shut it, Luz,” Babe said as he bought out of plate of the tiny burgers, rolls, ketchup, relish, and a whole roll of paper towels.

“Thanks,” Luz said. He’d gulped down three before Babe had even finished his first one.

“They not feeding you back home?” Babe asked.

Luz burped in response.

Babe laughed. “Such a gentleman.” 

“It was a good meal,” Luz said. “You might have a future as a fry cook.”

“Julian’s babysitting your ass next time.”

Luz squeezed himself closer to Babe’ side. “Now don’t be like that, Babe. My visits are the highlight of your year.”

The sad part was that they _were_. Outside of the rare job he worked for Speirs or Nixon, Babe rarely got out of town. He hoped that would change soon, but he wasn’t about to jinx things.

“Penk and Skip are going to be pissed Don’s not getting here until Sunday,” he said.

Luz nodded. “Bossman needed someone who knew the terrain of Washington State. Malarkey’s the only one in our crew who could possibly do it.”

They were all good friends but like with all large groups, some were closer than others. Skip, Penk, and Malarkey were their own tight trio. Toye and Bill were work partners and often put their lives on the line for each other. Perco and Luz bonded over their similar childhoods and usually being the two smallest guys in the group. They were pocket-sized badass best friends. Luz helped Perco lighten up, and Perco was there to pull back Luz when he was near the edge.

That was the thing about Luz, he’d give you the joker’s smile and the fool’s façade. Inside his head, things were darker. Everyone loved George Luz, but few people really, truly, _knew_ him. Babe was honored he got to see behind the mask even though he knew there was a whole fortress of something else going on there. With moats and shit, guarded by alligator infested waters.

“You daydreaming on me?” Luz asked. “Thinking about the doctor, perhaps?”

“More like picturing you as Maleficent. I think you could pull the headgear off.”

Luz scoffed. “What do you mean _think_? That one’s a given.”

Having witnessed some of Luz’s Halloween and Mummer Parade outfits, Babe believed him. 

“Have you heard from our solitary wonder?” Babe asked.

Ron Speirs was a loner of a sorts. He didn’t hate company or group gatherings, really. He was okay with people as long as they weren’t stupid jackasses who got in his way. Mission completion was important to the man, be it foiling an arms deal or finding lunch, and he wasn’t exactly known for his patience with fuck-ups. He did have one of the driest senses of humor Babe had ever encountered and he was a great buddy for a weekend movie binge. It just took a stronger set of guts to be friends with a man who was never anything less than slightly dangerous. 

Ron came to St. Mike’s after a stint in the Army (or so he told them), wanting to get his degree (which turned out to be his third), and experience fraternity life (when, in fact, he was actually doing a long-term cover, hiding from people who wanted to kill him). Life was never boring with Speirs.

Luz sneezed. “Christ, Babe,” he said, hunkering down in his coat, “it’s friggin’Alaska in here.”

“I need to get the radiator fixed,” Babe said. He’d gotten used to layering inside his apartment. On the coldest nights, he simply crashed at his parents. 

Luz shook his head. “That’s it, we got to get the hell out of here. I’m not freezing to death on a trash-salvaged couch.” 

“Where’s your sense of adventure, Luz?”

“Somewhere that has basic sanitary conditions.”

Babe smirked. “Really? So you’re calling Perco a liar then? Rumor has it you tried to get it on with a girl in a friggin’ barn.”

“Frank can be a very confused young man at times. Recalls things that never happen, I think it’s due to all the extra fluoride from his all his tooth brushing.”

“Uh-huh,” Babe said, not believing a word it. 

Luz stood and rubbed his hands together, breathing air on them. “We’re getting the hell out of here. I’m not being smirked to death while I slowly turn into a Luzsicle.”

“Let me finish my food,” Babe said. “Eat your cookies.”

“You can’t tell me what to do, Babe,” Luz said.

Babe smiled. “If you sit quietly I’ll show you a picture of Gene.”

“The doc?” Luz asked.

Babe nodded. 

“Well, shit,” Luz said as he took his seat again. “What’s a little frostbite between friends?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't even begin to properly apologize for how long it's taken me to update this fic. I finally decided to just stop forcing myself to write long chapters and post them in little 1k parts so I could finally get this fic worked on instead of repeatedly stalling out. I hope if you're still reading it, you enjoy it. Lots of bonding with the boys to come and an appearance by Babe's asshole ex.


	3. Three

“What kind of greeting is this? No streamers? No balloons? Not even a banner?” Joe Toye turned to Bill Guarnere where they stood in the doorway of the Front Street Tavern and let all the cold air inside. “You know, Bill, I don’t think they missed us at all.”

“Close the door, assholes, and stop wasting the heat,” Babe yelled at them. He waved at them anyway before going back to loading clean glasses onto the rack above his head. 

“And did you bring us presents?” Skip Muck asked. He was seated at his regular table, Alex Penkala at his side, with a spread of half-graded schoolwork fanned out between them. “Please tell me it’s some decent booze.”

“I can hear you,” Babe said. “I can hear you while you actively insult my bar while taking up a table and not paying for shit.”

“Another bowl of free pretzels, my good man,” Skip said as he held up the empty one and shook it.

“Fucking freeloaders,” Babe mumbled as he grabbed a handful of packets and threw them at Skip’s head. 

“Two points to Heffron,” Luz declared and waved the little American flag he’d dug out from the Lost and Found box. 

Babe shook his head and wondered, for approximately the thousandth time in the past twenty minutes, how he got saddled with all these assholes.

The noise in the bar grew as Bill and Joe greeted everyone individually with loud laughs, louder stories, and slaps on the back, or upside the head, or the screech of chair legs on the floor as the boys were pulled into bone-crunching hugs. Everyone wanted to welcome their native sons back home. Babe already knew Bill and Joe wouldn’t have to pay for a drink their entire time here. People would be lining up to buy them round after round.

Babe grinned as he checked his phone again to see the status of everyone else. Perco was due in an hour, Malarkey in another day, and Ron whenever he damned well felt like it. He’d probably appear in the middle night like the creature he’d so obviously been in a past life. 

Babe felt eyes on him and looked up to meet Bill’s crooked grin.

“How the hell are ya, Babe?” he asked before pulling him over the bar into a hug.

Babe flailed for a minute and silently cursed the bruises that he knew were going to be all over his midsection before midnight, but he sure as shit didn’t break Bill’s embrace.

When they both pulled apart, Babe ignored the tears in Bill’s eyes and Bill just reached out and grasped the back of Babe’s neck a little tighter. They’d have their own reunion later, just the four of them—just Bill, Babe, Spina, and Julian--for now they had this to tide them over. A little piece of home finally returned, a part of his soul slotted back into its place. 

“You two are so sweet,” Toye said before he shoved Bill out of the way. He pulled Babe into another tight hug, though a much shorter version that ended with a head slap. 

“You hooked up with your ER doctor?” Toye asked. “What the hell is the matter with you?”

“Luz!” Babe yelled.

The man in question smiled at him with a mouth full of pretzels then went back to poking through the Lost and Found. 

“Hey, Joe, lay off him,” Bill said with a shake of his head. “It’s Doc.”

“Roe?” Toye asked.

Bill nodded.

Toye straightened up and tapped Babe’s cheek. “Well, that’s something different. Nice going, Babe.”

“You know him too?” Babe asked. Just what the _hell_ had Gene been up to in his past?

“We met a time or two,” Toye said. “Once ripped me a new on about improper footwear.”

“You had that one coming,” Bill said.

“I did,” Toye agreed. He tapped his fingers on the bar. “So what’s a guy got to do to get a drink around here?”

Babe rolled his eyes. “Maybe try ordering one?”

Joe turned his head and looked out over the bar. “Still missing Malarkey and Perco, right? We’re going to be here awhile. Start me off with something light, barkeep.”

“A Shirley Temple it is,” Babe said as he reached for one of their fanciest glasses. 

Joe just grinned at him, a contentment in his eyes that so rarely appeared. 

Babe made sure to put the biggest cherry he could find in Joe’s glass.

**********

The bar business, like any service industry, had its waves of non-stop work tempered with moments of boredom. The only sporting event to watch was a Flyers game, but Babe didn’t want to think about their playoffs chances and how much money Julian would lose, again, to his bookie. He made conversation with the regular barflies and kept a watchful eye on his boys. He took the time to pull down the liquor ordering book and make account of the inventory for the order tomorrow. He stepped away from the bar when Gina came in to check on his crew and the kitchen. It was a familiar routine even with all the guests.

Perco eventually showed up, dragged into the bar by Spina and Julian, still pulling his suitcase behind him. 

“Took you long enough,” Babe said as he dropped a water off for Perco.

“Traffic,” Perco said. He downed half the glass. “Coffee, please? For me, Babe.”

“It tastes like engine fuel,” Babe warned.

Perco shrugged. “Bring it. I’m about to drop.”

“It’ll stain your teeth,” Babe said.

“I’ll risk it.”

Babe brought him a cup and a one of the cookie’s Bobby had brought in from his latest culinary class. 

When it was time for Babe’s break he left the bar in Gina’s capable hands and walked over to the corner his entire crew had claimed as their own territory. A territory of beer bottles, used napkins, and baskets full of chicken wing bones, but a territory nonetheless. 

“Hey, Babe,” Spina called holding at a beer. 

Babe waved him off. He had a hard and fast rule about not drinking at work. He squeezed into the spot between Spina and Bill and snatched a handful of fries off Julian’s plate. 

“Why don’t you guys get karaoke?” Luz asked.

“Because this is an actual bar, George,” Babe said. “You drink beer out of chipped and spotty glasses, eat stale pretzels and maybe play a game of darts. You can leave your dance floor and karaoke machines to clubs and chain restaurants catering to suburbanites.”

“And movie theaters. I went to this place in middle of nowhere Nebraska, and their movie theater was, like, the only entertainment venue for at least fifty miles,” Skip said. “That and a tractor pull.”

“Shit,” Toye said, “I was in this village in Tennessee, they had this store that was a pizza place, a video store, a nail salon and a tanning bed. All in one place.”

“Never eating there,” Babe said. “What the fuck is it with small towns, man?”

“Little boys who live a street down from their mom’s and never lived anywhere else can’t say shit,” Luz said. “You got to give some credit to Spina, he’s trying to get out of this place.”

“Hey, I like it here,” Babe said. “It might not be some fancy office job in D.C., but I got all I need here.”

“You sure about that,” Luz murmured into his glass.

Babe threw a paper coaster at him. “We’re not talking about that.”

“What?” Penk asked.

“Babe’s long-distance hook-up,” Luz said.

“He is not a hook-up. He’s an acquaintance.”

“Who’s an acquaintance?” Spina asked.

“Gene,” Babe said, willing Ralph to keep his mouth shut. 

“You kiss all your acquaintances?” Ralph asked.

Babe tugged away his beer. Snitches didn’t deserve drinks. “You’re not helping, Spina.”

Ralph shrugged and then snatched his beer back. “Hey, Gene’s a nice guy and he’s hooking me up with a possible job. I don’t want you to be a jackass to him.”

“Fine,” Babe said. He turned to Skip and Penk. “Gene is somewhere in between an acquaintance and a something else, but he sure as hell isn’t a hook-up. He is a nice, decent guy and you will not let Luz talk more shit than normal about him when I leave the room.”

Skip and Penk nodded.

“That’s great, Babe,” Penk said, “but who is this Gene again?”

“Babe picked him up in New Orleans,” Julian said.

“I did not--” Babe stopped. “We are not talking about this. If you want to talk about anyone’s love life, why don’t we ask Toye about Stella, the ball breaking IRS agent who turned his ass down five times.”

“Hey, fuck you,” Joe said.

Babe smirked. “Don’t strike out in front of Smokey and I won’t use it against you. Now, if you kiddos will excuse me, break’s over.”

“Coward,” Bill called after him as he made his escape. 

“I still haven’t seen a picture of this Gene,” Luz said. “Babe bribed me with one to sit in his ice castle of a home and then never gave up the goods.”

“He’s hot,” Joe said. He smirked at the looks everyone gave him. “What? Even I can get the attraction. He’s got that hair and those eyes. That voice is pretty nice too.”

“I could definitely listen to that man talk,” Luz said. “I stole Babe’s phone earlier and a had a little chat with him.”

“You talk to your acquaintances every single day, Babe?” Julian asked. 

“Not listening to you assholes,” Babe yelled across the bar. 

“Talking about Gene?” Gina asked.

Babe groaned and leaned his head against her shoulder. “Not you too.”

“Hey, any guy who is willing to send us boxes of pralines to woo you gets my vote,” she said. 

Babe smiled at her in thanks and then got his ass back to work.

**********

Luz whined to Ma Guarnere hard enough at dinner that he got Bill’s old room for the night and Babe? Babe got to share his tiny twin mattress with his best friend. He always managed to get screwed over somehow during Reunion Week.

“Move your ass over,” Bill muttered as he flopped down next to Babe.

“That the same pillow talk you use with Fran? No wonder she doesn’t want to move in with you,” Babe said.

“She just doesn’t want to move until Jen’s finished high school. You know she’s got to help her Ma take care of the younger kids.” He kicked Babe in the shin. “Also, fuck you.”

“Not until you take a shower and brush your teeth,” Babe said. He pulled the comforter entirely over to his side. “I got standards, after all.”

“Let’s talk about those standards,” Bill said, voice that deceptive calm that came before he decided to fuck some shit up. “Ma know you plan on marrying a doctor?”

Babe buried his head under his pillow and let out an exaggerated snore.

Bill poked him in the side. “Come on, Babe. It’s me.”

Babe pulled the pillow off his head and stared at the cracks in his ceiling. “I like him,” he admitted. “I like him a hell of a lot.”

“But?”

“But I’m here and he’s there and neither one of us are going to move.”

“What’s keeping you here?” Bill asked. “The family? Yeah, they’d miss the hell out of you, but they’d be happy for you. The bar? They’d wish you well. You need money for a move? I’ll lead a goddamned fundraiser to get you out of here.”

“He’s a doctor,” Babe said.

“Yeah?” Bill asked.

“I’m a bartender,” Babe said. “And I’m not one of those kids who went to law school and then became a bartender to pay off loans. I’ve only taken a handful of college classes. I’m not educated and shit.”

“You know that means exactly nothing to Gene. And you don’t need college, never did.”

Bill was right. “We don’t know each other,” Babe said. “I can’t—we met a _month_ ago.”

“Okay,” Bill said. He threw an arm over Babe’s stomach and pulled him into a sloppy hug. “I hear ya. Give it some time, but Babe? Don’t let this slip away. You two? I like the idea of the two of you together.”

“You know him better than I do,” Babe said.

Bill shrugged. “I knew him in war. You’re getting to know him as a man. I think you win.”

It was easy to fall asleep with the familiar warmth of Bill at his side, their breaths and heartbeats syncing up. It lulled Babe into dreamland hours before his usual time and he was enjoying that peace until Bill shook him awake.

“Hey Babe, do you hear that?”

“It’s probably just the rats in the wall, Bill. Go back to sleep.” He tried to turn over, but Bill’s hold on his side had tightened into an iron grip.

“There are rats here!” 

“I mean, I leave them alone and they leave me alone. We’ve got a system,” Babe said.

“We need to get you the fuck out of here,” Bill whispered, voice pitched fierce and low.

The sound started again, a scratching and banging now. Babe forced himself up. That wasn’t a rat.

“You got a weapon of some kind?” Bill asked. He’d left his sidearm at his ma’s, knowing how much Babe hated guns. 

“Baseball bat or hockey stick,” Babe offered. 

“I’m going to grab a steak knife,” Bill said instead. 

They were both creeping out of the bedroom when Babe’s door flew up and Julian and Spina stumbled inside.

“What the fuck are you two idiots doing?” Bill asked. “We could’ve killed you!”

“Celebrating,” Ralph yelled, far too loud for three in the morning, even in this apartment building.

“He got the interview,” Julian explained.

They both drunk stumbled over to Babe’s couch and passed a champagne bottle back and forth.

“I say we leave them there to freeze to death,” Babe said.

Bill nodded. “I’m going back to bed. Congrats, Spina. We’ll have a celebration breakfast in the morning.”

“We’re going to stay here,” Julian said, already curling up against Spina.

“Ain’t they cute,” Bill said.

“For drunken puppies,” Babe agreed. He ducked into his kitchen and grabbed his largest spaghetti pot. He dropped it by Julian’s foot. “If you have to puke, please _try_ to aim it in there.”

“Mmmkay,” Julian said.

“Babe,” Ralph said.

“Yeah?” Babe asked.

“You should come with me to Louisiana,” he said.

Babe laughed. “You still need to get the job, Spina.”

“Right,” Ralph said. “Then you’ll come with me.”

“Okay,” Babe said, not about to debate with a drunk Spina.

“Yay,” Spina said, clapping his hands while Julian joined.

Bill shook his head. “To be that young again.”

Spina was actually the oldest out of their entire group, but Bill had years over all of them. Life had added on to him, stone by stone, in a way it hadn’t for the others. It broke Babe’s heart more than he’d like to admit, but he’d known Bill since he was kid. He was there to watch each bit of that childhood innocence get chipped away. He was the only one there when Bill came back from his first tour, begging Babe to come pick him up, knowing he wasn’t ready to be greeted by the entire family. He was the one who parked in some empty lot and held Bill as he shook with nerves and memories, and patted his back on the side of the road as he puked up his first meal on the way home.

Bill was good at acting like his own self, but there were only a handful of people who knew him in the quiet times, when he couldn’t help but relive his own personal hell.

Babe tugged him close now. “Come on, Bill. Back to bed.”

“You better share some of the comforter this time,” Bill said.


End file.
